While still attending high school at
The King's Academy in West Palm Beach, Florida, Jelencovich won the grand prize on Ed McMahon's
Next Big Star, McMahon's successor program to
Star Search. She released her first album,
Lauren Jelencovich, in 2003. Jelencovich, a
soprano, majored in vocal performance at New York's
Manhattan School of Music, focusing on opera and musical theater, also singing light pop. While at that institution, she was the first undergraduate to be selected as part of the school's Educational Outreach Program. By age 20, Jelencovich had performed at
Carnegie Hall in New York and at the
MGM Grand Las Vegas. After being awarded the National Italian Federation's
Andrea Bocelli Scholarship, Jelencovich sang "
The Prayer" for Bocelli at a private event. In May 2005, Jelencovich was included in
People magazine's "Beauties on Your Block," part of the magazine's annual "50 Most Beautiful People" issue. She also appeared in
Teen magazine. In 2006, Jelencovich made her
off-Broadway debut in
Wallace and
Allen Shawn's play/opera,
The Music Teacher. Jelencovich was a finalist and received a Lys Symonette Award in the 2008
Lotte Lenya Competition administered by the
Kurt Weill Foundation for Music. Finalists were judged based on regional competitions, video submissions, and a live program required to include an opera/operetta aria, an American musical theater number, and two contrasting Kurt Weill selections. Jelencovich won Second Prize in the 2009 Gerda Lissner International Vocal Competition in New York. and his orchestra. Also in 2009, Jelencovich made her mainstage opera debut at
Opera Tampa (Florida, U.S.) in the lead roles of Lauretta in
Gianni Schicchi and Suor Genovieffa in
Suor Angelica. Jelencovich played Mrs. Nordstrom in the 2010
Opera Theatre of Saint Louis (OTSL) production of
A Little Night Music, which was directed by fashion designer
Isaac Mizrahi and starred
Amy Irving. A member of OTSL's Gerdine Young Artist program, Jelencovich also
covered for the part of Violet Beauregard in the world premier of
The Golden Ticket, an opera based on Roald Dahl’s book
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. Also in 2010, Jelencovich performed at Carnegie Hall in the New York premiere of the orchestral version of
Benjamin Britten’s
Te Deum in C, performing with the
Oratorio Society of New York led by
Kent Tritle. Since November 2010, Jelencovich has performed as a lead vocalist on
Yanni's international tours, which included performances in North and South America, Europe, Asia and Africa. Jelencovich's vocals were included in three tracks from Yanni's live-concert CD and DVD
Yanni Live at El Morro, Puerto Rico (released April 2012), which was also broadcast in PBS television specials beginning in March 2012. She also was the primary artist (soprano vocalist) for the "Nightingale" track to Yanni's 2014
Plácido Domingo-
Ric Wake collaboration album,
Inspirato, and performed in Yanni's 2015
The Dream Concert: Live from the Great Pyramids of Egypt and in the resulting 2016 CD/DVD and PBS special. On November 30, 2017, Jelencovich performed "Nightingale" in
Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, Yanni later saying that Jelencovich was the first woman allowed to perform onstage in that nation without wearing the traditional
veil, and was the first woman in recent history to sing on stage for a mixed audience of men and women in that country. ==Influences==